Banana Purple Punch Auto from Fastbuds - 5-Gallon with Low Stress Training

[Aeromatics]

Here are some initial specifications for seeds, soil, nutrients, and grow environment:

Seeds: Banana Purple Punch Auto from Fastbuds

Soil: Happy Frog from Fox Farms, Seed Starter from Coast of Maine

Nutrients:

Root Boosters and Blends Great White Mycorrhizal Fungi Root Enhancer, DYNOMYCO Premium Mycorrhizal Inoculant, Mykos Mycorrhizal Inoculant, Tribus Organic Microbial Inoculant

Main Nutrient System: Ventana Plant Science (VPS), FlavUh, Stash Blend

Grow Environment:

Light: AC Infinity IONBOARD S44 – LED Grow Light Board 400W

Tent: AC Infinity CLOUDLAB 642, Advance Grow Tent 4 x 2

Humidifier: AC infinity CLOUDFORGE T3

Ventilation and Circulation: AC Infinity CLOUDLINE T-Series Duct Fan 4 Inch, AC Infinity Duct Carbon Filter, Australian Charcoal, 4-Inch, AC Infinity CLOUDRAY A6, Gen 2 Grow Tent Clip Fan 6”

Pots: AC Infinity Heavy Duty Reusable Fabric Pots 5 Gallon

Goal for the Grow:

I have seen some really great results from Banana Purple Punch Auto from Fastbuds, and I hope to have some fun with this one! I am using a 5-gallon pot and will utilize LST throughout vegetation to maximize this indica-dominant hybrid’s yield.

Since I am using Happy Frog soil as my medium, I will slowly introduce Ventana Plant Science nutrients throughout the grow at ⅛ to ¼ strength, looking to read the plant as she progresses.

I will be growing her in my 4 x 2 tent, and I have several other autos growing at the same stage. This means I’ll be able to control DLI, temperature, and humidity a bit more in terms of plant cycle, as opposed to growing severAl different plants at different stages in the same tent. You may see some of the other girls in the background of any pictures!

Medium

I’ll be using the same medium as another recent autoflower I started: Sherbet Queen. I originally tried to start a Hyperion F-1 in this soil, but I think the Coast of Maine seed starter was too dry. I’ll be sure to monitor that during germination and early seedling stages.

I mixed 3 gallons of Happy Frog with 1 gallon of Perlite. Additionally, I put 1.5 gallons of hydroton and perlite in the base for drainage. Additionally, I added 6 tablespoons of Mykos for extra mycorrhizal in my soil. I REALLY want a massive root structure with this one.

I dug a bit of a hole where I plan to put the germinated seed and added some COM Seed Starter blend.

Sprout

Germination went well enough, there was a bit of a curved root. I planted her when ready and she sprouted after around 36 hours in soil.

She is growing very weird, with some leaf twisting and seems to be missing 1 cotyledon:

I watered her in with around 50/75 mls of distilled water with 1 ml/gallon of Tribus. I’ll be extra sensitive to overwatering at this stage given the initial odd growth of the seedling.

I am really looking forward to growing this one, so fingers are crossed!

[Hopalong]

I’m following, I have grown several of these before and have a few growing outdoors now…

[Aeromatics]

Thank you, @Hopalong! Definitely a weird sprout but she’ll grow out of it… I hope haha!

[Aeromatics]

She is looking better than expected with he weird transition from germination to seedling. I think she is starting to grow out of her deformity and I look forward to this week, where hopefully she will explode!

I have started pretty slow with watering, adding about 50 ml with 1 ml/gallon of Tribus on day 2.

On day 7, I increased her water to 100 ml with Tribus and FlaVUH. I drew a nice circle a few inches away from the seedling for the water to promote the roots spreading out in the 5-gallon pot.

[Aeromatics]

We have had some great developments heading into day 15!

Luckily she grew out of the weird initial mutation and is growing well heading into day 15.

Water is staying at 300 ml and I am watering around 4 inches from stem base in a circle to encourage root growth.

We are going to operate the same circumstances for this week: DLI has been increased in the tent, generally, to 32. It’s a bit early in the grow cycle for this intense of DLI, but I have several plants in the tent and it looks like she is taking to the increase well enough.

I added 1 tsp/g of Tribus, FlaVUH, and 1/2 tsp/g Great White Mycor, but I will look to add some nutrients at 1/8 strength starting in week 4.

Low stress training will continue this week with small staking and tweaks here and there to expose node growth.

Here she is today on day 15!

I am excited to see how she will progress this week, stay tuned!

[Aeromatics]

Week 3 went well!

She is growing a really firm main steam that is making it quite difficult to LST, and I definitely don’t want to stress her too much. I am going to continue to work on the lower stems here and there but I think training, in general, is going to be done with this one. That’s alright, she is healthy!

I watered twice this week. On day 15, I gave her 500 ml, and on day 18, I upped it to 1 liter, each with 1/8 strength Ventana Plant Science nutrients.

Day 20

Day 22

I did some minor defoliation to expose as many nodes as possible to full light, but I am trying to be cautious and careful not to stress her too much with unnecessary cuts.

All in all, it’s going well thus far!

[Aeromatics]

Heading into day 29, she stretched quite a bit and her stems are think and strong, almost too rigid to train! I am going to go with super LST on this one and simply spread her out across the pot with some ties to either the pot or some bamboo stakes. I’ll work on that this week.

She is in flower mode after 30 days, so I imagine she will be close to a 75 day grow, but we will see!

I watered her on day 22 with another dose of my previous vegetation nutrients (see week 4), but today (day 29, she received a dose of Stash Blend and Tribus… 2 liters.

Day 25

Day 29

I was curious, so I measured TDS going in and out. We were 154 going in and had around 200 ml of runoff at 1600 PPM heading out. I’ll be sure not to over-fertilize my flowering nutrients and start low with 1/8 PPM, never going above 200 a dose. But we will see. I may gradually increase!

Wish me luck heading into the first full flowering week!

[Aeromatics]

She looking alright , except one glaring issue!

We are experiencing one pretty major deficiency. We believe (have a look at the amazing advice I am getting on my other ILGM troubleshooting thread, thank you @Lostgirl), it could be a severe CalMag, combined with Nitrogen. I watered in 5 ml/gallon Ventana Plant Science Support (4-0-0) to try and meet that need, but I saw some progression heading into day 34 and 37.

She is still feeling wet as of day 37, but I am going to give her a next dose of 7 to 8 ml/gallon VPS Support over the next two waters.

I also might have overdone it with the lights, as I increased the DLI on day 32/33 from 30 to 45. I believe the sudden change also hurt my Sherbet Queen, which is in the same tent, so I backed the light off to around 37/38 DLI to see if they recover.

It can be tough going through deficiencies like this, but really is facinating to see how each plant responds differently to what is pretty much the same grow set-up.

Let’s hope these doses of CalMag help, and stay tuned!

Please chime in in the comments if you think it could be something else!

[Aeromatics]

This gal is a challenge! But a fun one.

It’s been a bit of a nutrient battle heading into day 40, but I see some signs of recovery.

On day 40 I gave her 3 liters of nutrient rich solution, coming in at 800 PPM. I went aggressive, and I think it was the right move at this stage and given these signs.

Day 41:

We had around 300 ml of runoff and the solution came in at 1400 PPM, so I think she was hovering at around 600 PPM before the feed, definitely hungry!

Between day 40 and 48, I didn’t see much progression of the deficiency, which is great! There has definitely been some damage, but I think we can recover.

Day 44

The most surprise thing is that, after 8 days of no watering, she still feels a bit heavy! I am waiting an extra day and will water in 2 liters on day 49 of a 600 PPM mixture, measure runoff, and see how she is eating heading into week 8.

Day 47

I see some nice trichomes developing and even a bit of that purple coming through. I’m having fun with this one, and I know that even at the end, it will still be delicious in my volcano.

These next few waters and days will hopefully see some continuous flower development, and maybe a return to a healthier green color.

[Aeromatics]

After a good dry out, she was ready for a big 1-gallon low PPM flush on day 55. I felt like she was really high in PPM, and I have been chasing that CalMag deficiency this whole run. She won’t be the best, but I think she will still be delicious.

Today brought some big changes though.

I had to move her and Sherbet Queen to my 4 x 4 tent to make room for a new set of Autopots I recent purchased, and I also recently planted a new Z-Up Auto. I felt like I wanted to give her a good shot at thriving, and I learned a big lesson with these two since I switched to distilled water. CALMAG in EVERY WATER!

My 4 x 4 is currently flowering 6 photos (in week 3) and finishing up 2 CBD autos, so I think she will do nicely there. She might even enjoy the break.

I see no additional damage so we will see how she fares.

Day 51:

Flushing went well though! PPM is still high, so I may do another 1-gallon flush next water, but we will see how she reacts… could just have been excess salts finally releasing out of the soil.

Day 55:

PH came out on point at 6.2.

She still has a few weeks to do, so let’s see what we can do!